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Blackout in Queens Affects Many More Than Estimated

The number of people who have been without power in Queens for five days now is actually closer to 100,000, not the figure of 2,000 customers that officials of Consolidated Edison had cited in previous days.

At a press conference in Queens, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called the discrepancy annoying, and said that Con Edison apparently based its earlier count on the number of customers who complained to the utility company that they had no power, and not on any systematic assessment of the power outage.

“I think what is annoying is that their first estimate was done based on phone calls,” the mayor said, saying he should have directed them earlier just to drive around the area to get an actual count of the number of people whose power was out.

The mayor said some customers may not get power back until Sunday, and that Con Edison workers are trying to at least get traffic lights working by rush hour this evening.

His acknowledgment that the power problem was actually much larger than anyone had thought explains some of the anger and frustration heard in sections of Queens, where the system began to fail on Monday, the third day of a severe heat wave. The problem was probably aggravated by thunderstorms on Tuesday that also blew out power to thousands of other customers in the region.

As businesses were complaining of spoiled food and lost revenue, and police officers had to direct traffic at dozens of intersections where traffic lights were not working, several elected officials today called for a criminal investigation into how Con Edison has handled the problem.

“Not only did they drop the ball when the power went out, they’ve been absolutely reckless over the last four days in leveling with the public,’’ said Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of this.’’

But the mayor, at a news conference with a number of other leading city officials who are helping people cope with the situation, said he was not interested in accusing Con Edison of mismanaging the problem. Instead, he said, he wanted to make sure power was restored quickly.

“It did not change the number of people who did not have service,” he said. “Rather than point fingers at Con Ed and vilify all of the people who work for them, I want all of their employees to just continue to work as hard as they can until we get everybody back up.”

The mayor said some 250 Con Edison crews would be out working today to restore power. But their job was complicated by heavy rain showers that fell off and on during the day.

Residents of 28th Street in Astoria, across from a Con Edison plant, were trying to bail out their basements, which flooded from rain that began last night, at a time when the building has only limited power.

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In Astoria, Queens, where some residents have been without power for five days, Con Edison employees passed out packages of ice and the Red Cross distributed supplies to those affected by the blackout.Credit
Librado Romero/The New York Times

“It’s really disgusting,’’ said Lila Stathis, 75, who had just paid someone $463 to pump out her basement because she has power to only one outlet in her home. “I mean, how many days we have no air? And I’m right across from the Con Edison plant. It really makes you angry.’’

His words may have been small consolation to the thousands of customers in western Queens who have received no definitive word yet on when they would get power back, or why their particular neighborhoods were most affected.

“I think we were not being told the truth,” said Catherine Volpe, who lives on the 12th floor of the Berkeley Towers in Sunnyside, Queens, where power was restored on Thursday, although residents say the supply is so weak that they cannot use air conditioners or other high-drawing appliances.

“I welcome the investigation,” she said. “I think we were actually lied to.”

Con Edison also said it will be surveying the area that includes Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Hunters Point, and Astoria to better identify each block and home or business without power. It urged customers with power to leave a lamp switched on overnight until full power is restored to the area, to help crews see which homes have service as they work through the night.Con Edison also said today that 35,000 customers in Westchester County — not the 25,000 reported earlier — lost power after Tuesday’s storm. About 6,000 were still out on Friday morning.

Even the new estimate of 100,000 people being affected by the power problems may not be so accurate, the mayor acknowledged today, when he explained how Con Edison and he arrived at that number.

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The mayor said that he suspected on Thursday that the utility company’s estimate of 2,000 customers without power — a ‘customer’ could be one person or one building with many residents — was probably low.

“They cannot tell from their computers,’’ Mr. Bloomberg said on a radio call-in program earlier today. “Their estimates at the beginning were based on how many people called up and said, ‘My power’s not working.’ You can question whether that’s an intelligent way to do it.”

The only way to tell, he said, would be to actually see which buildings had no power, he said, so on Thursday, he “demanded that they take a look, and they drove down almost every street.’’

“It got so late that, apparently, at that point, they said, ‘Well, everybody’s gone to bed, you don’t know whether people have power, you can’t tell from looking,’ and they tried to actually look,’’ he said.

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With power out in Astoria, Queens, merchants tried to keep their businesses open.Credit
Librado Romero/The New York Times

“If it was one house in a block that didn’t have lights on, you assumed that there’s power there because typically everybody in that block would be out, or nobody,’’ he said. “If all of the block is dark, they assume that all of those people are without power.’’

Based on that survey, they concluded that 25,000 customers were without power. At the news conference in Queens, the mayor said that meant around 100,000 people.

“The real issue is not how many,” he said. “The real issue is how fast can they open up every manhole and fix if there is a problem.’’

The mayor said that additional police officers had been assigned to the blacked out area of Queens to patrol streets, deter crime, offer assistance and direct traffic at intersections where traffic lights were still not working.

Emergency calls to 911 were down by 40 percent in the area, he said. “It may be because everybody’s cooperating, or it may be because the police officers are out there,” he said.

Extra ambulances, Fire Department equipment and other aid were being sent to help and rescue the infirm and any elderly residents who were suffering from heat problems or were stranded because elevators were not running, he said.

Many residents had complained that the city was ignoring a prolonged blackout affecting several neighborhoods in western Queens, which happens to be where most of the city’s power plants are located. The mayor himself did not travel to the affected areas until Thursday, when many businesses had already been forced to close, residents were throwing out rancid food, drivers were taking turns creeping through intersections with darkened traffic signals and many people were forced out of their homes to seek relief from the heat.

The Yellowbird Repair Shop, directly across 20th Avenue from the Charles Poletti Power Plant in Astoria, remained largely without power Thursday.

“All they have to do is run an extension cord out to us and we’re open for business,” said Chris Kalatzis, the shop manager. He said his house in Astoria was also without power, ruining $200 worth of food in his refrigerator.

Merchants were dismayed and angry at the losses they were suffering from a power problem that began during a heat wave.

“Even third-world countries do not have this kind of problem,” said Jimmy Istavrof, 57, who owns the J & T Greek and Italian Deli on Ditmars Boulevard. “All this from a couple of 90-degree days.”

He showed how his Greek desserts and other foods sat spoiling in his freezers.

“You see? Like soup,” he said, squeezing a soft carton of ice cream. “It’s all going to shame.”